1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for detecting an obstacle adaptively to vehicle speed, which are capable of detecting an obstacle in front of a vehicle to assist in safe driving and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for detecting an obstacle adaptively to vehicle speed, which can adjust obstacle detection response speed by varying a detection region within which an obstacle is detected in front of a vehicle based on the speed of the vehicle, and can also integrate detection data generated by a plurality of heterogeneous sensors by providing a synchronization signal to the plurality of sensors that generate detection data on obstacles.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is expected that vehicles will evolve into intelligent vehicles that can autonomously travel to their destinations. As active research related to future vehicles is carried out recently, companies all over the world, including Google of the U.S., are developing autonomous driving vehicles and related technologies, or are carrying out the research and development of the commercialization of autonomous driving vehicles. Furthermore, vehicles are evolving into intelligent vehicles that are equipped with safety functions, such as driver drowsiness prevention, front collision prevention and intersection collision prevention, and/or convenience functions, such as autonomous expressway driving and automatic parking, because the vehicles can enhance drivers' recognition capability using information received from adjacent vehicles and external infrastructures as well as the sensors of the vehicles.
Recognition technology, that is, one of the component technologies for implementing intelligent vehicles, is an IT technology converged into vehicles, and can be used to prevent drowsy driving by monitoring the states of drivers, and to monitor the malfunction or failure of main components of the vehicles or to recognize the driving state of the vehicles. Using this recognition technology, intelligent vehicles autonomously recognize lanes and traffic lamps by recognizing obstacles in front of and behind the vehicle or an obstacle within a blind spot where the field of view of a driver is not ensured, thereby enabling assistance to driving and autonomous driving.
A Radio Detection And Ranging (RADAR), a Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR), an ultrasonic sensor, and a camera sensor are used as obstacle detection sensors for supporting assistance to driving for the safe driving of a vehicle and autonomous driving. Furthermore, since a single type of sensors are unable to deal with all types of driving environments, various types of sensors are being used or a technology into which heterogeneous sensors have converged is being used. A laser scanner, that is, a LiDAR, includes 2-D, 3-D and 4 layer types of scanners, and the camera includes an infrared camera, a stereo camera, and a wide-angle lens camera.
In the convergence of heterogeneous sensors, it is difficult to temporally synchronize the sensors due to the differences in the data processing and output results of the sensors, and a lot of expensive equipment should be used due to various types of driving environments. Furthermore, high-speed data processing speed is required to precisely detect an obstacle, and sensing response speed, that is, obstacle detection response speed, can be considered to be directly related to the driving safety of a vehicle.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0328644 entitled “Object Detection and Tracking System” discloses an object detection system including an imaging device, an image processor, and a LiDAR device in order to detect an obstacle in front of a vehicle. In U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0328644, the imaging device obtains data regarding images of scenes outside a vehicle, and the image processor processes the image data so that an object of interest within the angle of the field of view of the imaging device can be detected. Meanwhile, the LiDAR device has the angle of the field of view in order to indicate the direction of a detected object while operating in conjunction with the image data processing of the image processor, and performs a task for measuring the distance between the vehicle and the detected object.
However, in conventional technologies for detecting an object around a vehicle, such as the technology disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0328644, a scheme for improving obstacle detection response speed or a scheme for providing temporal synchronization in order to integrate the detection data of heterogeneous sensors is not taken into consideration at all.